Voice coil motor

ABSTRACT

A VCM is disclosed, the VCM including a rotor having a first driving unit and arranged therein with a lens, a stator having a second driving unit wrapping the first driving unit and being opposite to the first driving unit, a base supporting the stator and having an opening formed at a position corresponding to that of the lens, a connection terminal including a pair of first and second connection terminals arranged at an upper surface of the base, and an elastic member including a first elastic member coupled to the rotor and electrically connected the first connection terminal and a second elastic member coupled to the rotor and electrically connected the second connection terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.17/936,227, filed Sep. 28, 2022; which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/822,813, filed Mar. 18, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No.11,493,825, issued Nov. 8, 2022; which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/289,230, filed Feb. 28, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No.10,627,699, issued Apr. 21, 2020; which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/027,927, filed Jul. 5, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No.10,254,627, issued Apr. 9, 2019; which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/788,494, filed Oct. 19, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No.10,048,569, issued Aug. 14, 2018; which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/861,283, filed Sep. 22, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No.9,829,768, issued Nov. 28, 2017; which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/686,699, filed Nov. 27, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No.9,170,393, issued Oct. 27, 2015; which claims the benefit under 35U.S.C. § 119 of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0126639, filedNov. 30, 2011, which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a VCM (Voice Coil Motor).

Description of Related Art

Recently, a camera module generating a digital image or a video iswidely used on a mobile phone, a gamer and a tablet computer.

A conventional camera module includes an image sensor module convertingan outside light to a digital image or a video and a lens focusing theoutside light to the image sensor module. However, the conventionalcamera module suffers from disadvantages of disablement of auto focusfunction to adjust a gap (distance) between the lens and the imagesensor module, thereby making it difficult to obtain a high qualityimage.

However, a recently-developed camera module can adjust a gap (distance)between a lens and an image sensor module due to development of a VCM(Voice Coil Motor), whereby a user can obtain a desired high quality ofimage using the camera module mounted with the VCM.

The VCM capable of adjusting a gap between a lens and an image sensormodule includes a rotor including a lens and a coil, a stator includinga magnet, a base supporting the stator and a leaf spring elasticallysupporting the rotor.

The leaf spring of the VCM serves to elastically support the rotor andto apply a driving current to a coil block. The leaf spring is formedwith a terminal unit bent for applying the driving current to the coilblock, and when the terminal unit is bent to the leaf spring, a twist orheaving phenomenon is generated to the leaf spring, whereby the rotor isdisadvantageously generated with a bad driving.

Accordingly, there is room for improvement in the VCM.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to provide a VCM (Voice Coil Motor)configured to improve a structure of a leaf spring applying a drivingsignal to a coil block whereby a bad driving of a rotor caused by twistor heaving of the leaf spring can be inhibited.

Technical problems to be solved by the present disclosure are notrestricted to the above-mentioned descriptions, and any other technicalproblems not mentioned so far will be clearly appreciated from thefollowing description by skilled in the art.

An object of the invention is to solve at least one or more of the aboveproblems and/or disadvantages in whole or in part and to provide atleast the advantages described hereinafter. In order to achieve at leastthe above objects, in whole or in part, and in accordance with thepurposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described, there isprovided a VCM, the VCM comprising: a rotor having a first driving unitand arranged therein with a lens; a stator having a second driving unitwrapping the first driving unit and being opposite to the first drivingunit; a base supporting the stator and having an opening formed at aposition corresponding to that of the lens; a connection terminalincluding a pair of first and second connection terminals arranged at anupper surface of the base; and an elastic member including a firstelastic member coupled to the rotor and electrically connected the firstconnection terminal and a second elastic member coupled to the rotor andelectrically connected the second connection terminal.

The VCM according to the present disclosure has an advantageous effectin that an outside circuit board and an elastic member are not directlybrought into contact, an connection terminal connected to the outsidecircuit board is formed at a base, and the elastic member fixing a rotoris coupled to the connection terminal using a separate connection memberto inhibit the elastic member from being bent, tilted and heaved,whereby a bad driving of the rotor can be inhibited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, the width, length, thickness, etc. of components may beexaggerated or reduced for the sake of convenience and clarity.Furthermore, throughout the descriptions, the same reference numeralswill be assigned to the same elements in the explanations of thefigures, and explanations that duplicate one another will be omitted.Now, a voice coil motor according to the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The teachings of the present disclosure can be readily understood byconsidering the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a VCM according toan exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a housing, an elastic memberand a base of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is an extracted perspective view of a base of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is an extracted perspective view of a connection terminal of FIG.1 ;

FIG. 5 is an extracted perspective view of an elastic member of FIG. 4 ;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of ‘A’ of FIG. 5 ;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an electric connectionbetween a connection terminal and an elastic member of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an electric connectionbetween a connection terminal and an elastic member according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Advantages and features of the present disclosure may be understood morereadily by reference to the following detailed description of exemplaryembodiments and the accompanying drawings. Detailed descriptions ofwell-known functions, configurations or constructions are omitted forbrevity and clarity so as not to obscure the description of the presentdisclosure with unnecessary detail. Thus, the present disclosure is notlimited to the exemplary embodiments which will be described below, butmay be implemented in other forms.

The meaning of specific terms or words used in the specification andclaims should not be limited to the literal or commonly employed sense,but should be construed or may be different in accordance with theintention of a user or an operator and customary usages. Therefore, thedefinition of the specific terms or words should be based on thecontents across the specification.

Now, exemplary embodiments of a VCM (Voice Coil Motor) according to thepresent disclosure will be explained in detail together with thefigures.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a VCM according toan exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 2 is an explodedperspective view of a housing, an elastic member and a base of FIG. 1 .

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 , the VCM (800) includes a base (100), arotor (200), a stator (300), a connection terminal (350) and an elasticmember (400). The VCM (800) may further include a cover can (700).

Referring to FIG. 1 , the rotor includes a bobbin (210) and a firstdriving unit (250). The bobbin (210) takes a shape of a cylinder havinga through hole (212), for example, and is coupled at an inner surfacethereof to a lens (not shown), where the lens is driven along with thebobbin (210). The bobbin (210) is alternatively formed at an outersurface with a curved surface unit (214) and a planar surface unit(216), where four curved surface units (214) and four planar surfaceunits (216) are alternatively formed at the outer surface of the bobbin(210) in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

The curved surface unit (214) formed at the outer surface of the bobbin(210) is formed with a bond tank (215) for fixing the first driving unit(250, described later), where the bond tank (215) is formed in a concaverecess shape from the curved surface unit (214).

Although the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure hasillustrated and explained that the bond tank (215) is formed at thecurved surface unit (214), the present disclosure is not limitedthereto. For example, the bond tank (215) may be formed at the planarsurface unit (216).

The bobbin (210) is formed at a bottom surface of outer surface of thebobbin (210) with a support unit (218) for supporting the first drivingunit (250, described later), where the support unit (218) isprotrusively formed in a shape of a ring along the bottom surface of theouter surface of the bobbin (210).

A part corresponding to the planar surface unit (216) in an uppersurface of the bobbin (210) is protrusively formed with bosses (217).Each of the bosses (217) is protruded in the shape of a plate, andformed in parallel with the planar surface unit (216), for example.

The first driving unit (250) may include a coil block formed in a shapecorresponding to that of the curved surface unit (214) and the planarsurface unit (216) of the bobbin (210). The first driving unit (250) isformed by winding an insulated long resin-coated wire in a cylindershape.

The first driving unit (250) may be wound on a winding apparatus to beinserted into an outer surface of the bobbin (210). Alternatively, thefirst driving unit (250) may be directly wound on the outer surface ofthe bobbin (210). The first driving unit (250) arranged at the outersurface of the bobbin (210) is fixed to the outer surface of the bobbin(210) using an adhesive provided to the bond tank (215). Both distalends of the first driving unit (250) arranged at the outer surface ofthe bobbin (210) are respectively and electrically connected to theelastic member (400, described later).

Although the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure hasillustrated and explained that the first driving unit (250) is a coilblock formed by winding a wire, it should be apparent that the firstdriving unit (250) may include a magnet.

The stator (300) includes a second driving unit (310) and a housing(320). The second driving unit (310) is arranged opposite to the firstdriving unit (250) wound on the bobbin (210). The second driving unit(310) in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may include amagnet generating a magnetic field, for example.

The second driving unit (310) in an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure may include a flat magnet formed in a plate shape, and foursecond driving units (310) are arranged at an ambience of the firstdriving unit (250), each vertically arranged to the ambience.

The housing (320) serves to fix the second driving unit (310) at adesignated position. The housing (320) is formed in a shape of abottom-opened cube. The housing (320) is formed at an upper plate (321)thereof with an opening exposing the rotor (200), and is also formedwith a fixation lug (325).

Furthermore, each of lateral surfaces (322) of the housing (320) arrangeopposite to the outer surface of the bobbin (210) are formed with anaccommodation hole (324) for fixing the second driving unit (310), wherethe accommodation hole (324) is formed in a same size and shape as thoseof the second driving unit (310). Each of the lateral surfaces (322) ofthe housing (320) is formed with a coupling groove (326) coupled to acoupling pillar (120) of the base (described later). The coupling pillarof the base (100) and the coupling groove (326) are press-fitted to eachother.

Although the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure hasillustrated and explained that the second driving unit (310) includes amagnet, the second driving unit (310) may include a coil block, in acase the first driving unit (250) includes a magnet.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3 , the base (100) serves to fix the elasticmember (400, described later), the stator (300) and the cover can (700).The base is centrally formed with an opening (105) and takes a shapesimilar to a cubic plate, for example. The base (100) is mounted at arear surface thereof with an IRCF (Infrared Cut Filter, not shown)shielding IR in the light introduced through the opening (105). Fourcorners of an upper surface (110) of the base (100) are respectivelyformed with four coupling pillars (120) protruded to a directionperpendicular to the upper surface (110) of the base (100), and coupledto the housing (320).

The base (100) is formed at an upper surface (110) with an edge unit(130) protruded from the upper surface (110) along the upper surface(110). The upper surface (110) of the base (100) is arranged to an arealower than the upper surface (110) of the base (100) by the edge unit(130), and outside foreign materials are inhibited from entering theopening (105) of the base (100) by the edge unit (130). An inner surfaceof the edge unit (130) protruded from the upper surface (110) of thebase (100) is formed with four stopper units (140), for example.

Each stopper unit (140) is formed with a shape protruded inwards from aninner surface of the edge unit (130) protruded from the upper surface(110) of the base (100), and each stopper unit (140) is brought intocontact with a bottom surface of the bobbin (210) of the rotor (200,described later).

A foreign object scavenger unit (145) inhibiting foreign objects fromentering the opening (105) is concavely formed at a positioncorresponding to that of the stopper unit (140) by being concavelyformed from the upper surface (110) of the base (100). The foreignobject scavenger unit (145) may be formed therein with a foreign objectscavenger membrane such as an epoxy resin having a viscosity.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3 again, any one lateral surface (160) oflateral surfaces of the base (100) is formed with a groove (165)concavely formed from the lateral surface (160) of the base (100), andthe base (100) is formed at the upper surface with a pair of terminalholes (167) communicating with the groove (165). Furthermore, any onelateral surface (160) of the base (10) formed with the groove (165) isformed with a fixation hole (169) passing through the lateral surface(160).

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4 , a connection terminal (350) is secured to aterminal hole (167) of the base (100) and the fixation hole (169). Theconnection terminal (350) includes a first connection terminal (360) anda second connection terminal (370). Each of the first and secondconnection terminals (360, 370) includes a conductive metal in anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

The first and second connection terminals (360, 370) are symmetricallyformed based on a space therebetween. Each of the first and secondconnection terminals (360, 370) includes first connection terminal units(362, 372), second connection terminal units (364, 374) and thirdconnection terminal units (366, 376).

Each of the first connection terminal units (362, 372) is formed with ashape of a cubic plate arranged to a direction parallel with the uppersurface (110) of the base (100), and electrically connected to theelastic member (400, described later). Each of the second connectionterminal units (364, 374) is extended or bent to a directionperpendicular to each of the first connection terminal units (362, 372),and electrically connected to an outside circuit board that provides adriving signal. Each of the third connection terminal units (366, 376)is protruded in a shape of a bar from each of the first connectionterminal units (362, 372) to a direction parallel with each of the firstconnection terminal units (362, 372), and serves to secure the each ofthe second connection terminal units (364, 374) to the base (100).

Each of the first connection terminal units (362, 372) of the first andsecond connection terminals (360, 370) at the connection terminal (350)is arranged on the upper surface (110) of the base (100), and isarranged in parallel with the elastic member (400, described later).Furthermore, each of the second connection terminal units (364, 374) ofthe first and second connection terminals (360, 370) at the connectionterminal (350) passes through the terminal hole (167) of the base (100)and is exposed by the groove (165) of the base (100).

The each of the second connection terminal units (364, 374) exposed bythe groove (165) is electrically connected to an outside circuit boardthat provides a driving signal. Still furthermore, each of the thirdconnection terminal units (366, 376) of the first and second connectionterminals (360, 370) at the connection terminal (350) is coupled to thefixation hole (169) formed at the lateral surface (160) of the base(100), and securely fixes the first and second connection terminals(360, 370) to the base (100). Meanwhile, the connection terminal (350)inclusive of the first and second connection terminals (360, 370) may besecured to the base (100) by an adhesive.

Now, referring to FIGS. 1, 5 and 6 , the elastic member (400) performs acomplex function of elastically supporting the rotor (200) and applyingthe driving signal received from the connection terminal (350) to thefirst driving unit (250) of the rotor (200). The elastic member (400)includes a first elastic member (410) and a second elastic member (420).The elastic member (400) may further include a third elastic member(430) as shown in FIG. 1 .

Each of the first and second elastic members (410, 420) is coupled to abottom surface of the bobbin (210) of the rotor (200), and the thirdelastic member (430) is coupled to an upper surface opposite to thebottom surface of the bobbin (210) of the rotor (200). The first elasticmember (410) in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure iselectrically connected to the first connection terminal (360), and thesecond elastic member (420) is electrically connected to the secondconnection terminal (370).

Meanwhile, the first and second elastic members (410, 420) coupled tothe bottom surface of the bobbin (210) of the rotor (200) iselectrically insulated from each other. Each of the mutually insulatedfirst and second elastic members (410, 420) includes an inner elasticunits (412, 422), outer elastic units (414, 424) and connection elasticunits (416, 426).

The inner elastic units (412, 422) are coupled to the bottom surface ofthe bobbin (210) of the rotor (200). The outer elastic units (414, 424)are arranged at an outside of the inner elastic units (412, 422),arranged at the upper surface (110) of the base (100), and fixed by thehousing (320) of the stator (300), for example. The connection elasticunits (416, 426) serve to elastically connect the inner elastic units(412, 422) and the outer elastic units (414, 424).

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a part of each ofthe outer elastic units (414, 424) is electrically connected to thefirst and second connection terminals (360, 370) of the connectionterminal (350) arranged on the base (100).

Referring to FIG. 2 again, each of the outer elastic units (414, 424) ofthe first and second elastic members (410, 420), and the first andsecond connection terminals (360, 370) of the connection terminal (350)opposite to each of the outer elastic units (414, 424) are electricallyconnected by a conductive material (440). The conductive material (440)interposed between the first connection terminal (360) and the outerelastic unit (414) of the first elastic member (410) and between thesecond connection terminal (370) and the outer elastic unit (424) of thesecond elastic member (420) may include a conductive resin or a solderpaste. Alternatively, the conductive material (440) may include variousother conductive materials each having flexibility.

Meanwhile, in order to further improve electrical connectioncharacteristics of the first elastic member (410) and the firstconnection terminal (360), and to inhibit the first elastic member (410)from being twisted, tilted and heaved, the outer elastic unit (414) ofthe first elastic member (410) is formed with a first connection unit(415) protruded from the outer elastic unit (414).

An area joined or met by the first connection unit (415) and the outerelastic unit (414) is formed with a neck a bit more reduced in terms ofarea space than the first connection unit (415) in order to facilitatethe bending of the first connection unit (415). Furthermore, the firstconnection unit (415) may be formed with a through hole (415 a) in orderto improve a binding force between the first connection unit (415) andthe conductive material (440).

Meanwhile, in order to further improve electrical connectioncharacteristics of the second elastic member (420) and the secondconnection terminal (370), and to inhibit the second elastic member(420) from being twisted, tilted and heaved, the outer elastic unit(424) of the second elastic member (410) is formed with a secondconnection unit (425) protruded from the outer elastic unit (424).

An area joined or met by the second connection unit (425) and the outerelastic unit (424) is formed with a neck a bit more reduced in terms ofarea space than the second connection unit (425) in order to facilitatethe bending of the second connection unit (415). Furthermore, the secondconnection unit (425) may be formed with a through hole (425 a) in orderto improve a binding force between the second connection unit (425) andthe conductive material (440).

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstconnection unit (415) may be bent towards the first connection terminal(360) in order to inhibit the connection defects of the first connectionunit (415) of the first elastic member (410), the conductive material(440) and the first connection terminal (360).

At this time, in a case the first connection unit (415) is bent towardsto the first connection terminal (360), the outer elastic unit (414) isdepressed by the housing (320) in order to inhibit the outer elasticunit (414) of the first elastic member (410) from being twisted, tiltedand heaved.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 7 , in order to allow the first connection unit(415) to be bent towards the first connection terminal (360), a portioncorresponding to the first connection unit in the bottom surface of thehousing (320) of the stator (300) is formed with a lug (325) depressingthe first connection unit (415).

The second connection unit (425) may be bent towards the secondconnection terminal (370) in order to inhibit the connection defects ofthe second connection unit (425) of the second elastic member (420), theconductive material (440) and the second connection terminal (370).

At this time, in a case the second connection unit (425) is bent towardsto the second connection terminal (370), the outer elastic unit (424) ofthe second elastic member (420) is depressed by the housing (320) inorder to inhibit the outer elastic unit (424) of the second elasticmember (420) from being twisted, tilted and heaved.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 7 , in order to allow the second connectionunit (425) to be bent towards the second connection terminal (370), aportion corresponding to the second connection unit (425) in the bottomsurface of the housing (320) of the stator (300) is formed with a lug(326) depressing the first connection unit (425).

Although the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure hasillustrated and explained that the first and second connection units(415, 425) are bent by forming lugs (325, 326) at the bottom surface ofthe housing (320) as shown in FIG. 7 , alternatively, the first andsecond connection units (415, 425) may be formed in parallel with thefirst and second connection terminals (360, 370) as illustrated in FIG.8 .

The cover can (700) may include a cover can upper plate (710) and acover can lateral plate (720), where the cover can lateral plate (720)is coupled to the base (100).

The above-mentioned VCM according to the present disclosure may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Thus, it is intended thatembodiment of the present disclosure may cover the modifications andvariations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents. While particular features oraspects may have been disclosed with respect to several embodiments,such features or aspects may be selectively combined with one or moreother features and/or aspects of other embodiments as may be desired.Meantime, the VCM according to the present disclosure has an industrialapplicability in that an outside circuit board and an elastic member arenot directly brought into contact, an connection terminal connected tothe outside circuit board is formed at a base, and the elastic memberfixing a rotor is coupled to the connection terminal using a separateconnection member to inhibit the elastic member from being bent, tiltedand heaved, whereby a bad driving of the rotor can be inhibited.

1. A voice coil motor, comprising: a base; a cover disposed on the baseand comprising an upper plate and a lateral plate extending from theupper plate; a bobbin disposed in the cover; a coil disposed on thebobbin; a magnet disposed between the bobbin and the lateral plate ofthe cover; a lower elastic member comprising an inner part coupled withthe bobbin, an outer part coupled with the base, and a connection partconnecting the inner part and the outer part; and a terminal disposed onthe base, wherein the lower elastic member electrically connects thecoil and the terminal, wherein the terminal comprises a first partdisposed on an upper surface of the base, and a second part bent fromthe first part, wherein at least a part of the second part of theterminal protrudes from a lower surface of the base opposite to theupper surface of the base, wherein the outer part of the lower elasticmember is disposed higher than the first part of the terminal, andwherein a conductive material is coupled with the outer part of thelower elastic member and the first part of the terminal.
 2. The voicecoil motor of claim 1, wherein the first part of the terminal isparallel with the outer part of the lower elastic member.
 3. The voicecoil motor of claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the base comprises afirst surface and a second surface disposed at a position higher thanthe first surface, wherein the first part of the terminal is disposed onthe first surface of the base, and wherein the outer part of the lowerelastic member is disposed on the second surface of the base.
 4. Thevoice coil motor of claim 1, wherein the first part of the terminalcomprises a flat plate shape disposed to be parallel with the uppersurface of the base.
 5. The voice coil motor of claim 1, wherein theterminal comprises a third part extending from the first part andinserted in the base.
 6. The voice coil motor of claim 1, wherein theouter part of the lower elastic member comprises a hole formed at aposition corresponding to the terminal.
 7. The voice coil motor of claim6, wherein the conductive material is disposed on the hole of the outerpart of the lower elastic member.
 8. The voice coil motor of claim 1,wherein the terminal comprises first and second terminal units spacedapart from each other.
 9. The voice coil motor of claim 8, wherein thelower elastic member comprises first and second elastic members spacedapart from each other, wherein the first elastic member electricallyconnects one end portion of the coil and the first terminal unit, andwherein the second elastic member electrically connects another endportion of the coil and the second terminal unit.
 10. The voice coilmotor of claim 1, wherein the base comprises a recess concavely formedon the upper surface of the base, and wherein the first part of theterminal is disposed on the recess of the base.
 11. The voice coil motorof claim 1, wherein the first part of the terminal is disposed to beperpendicular to an optical axis.
 12. The voice coil motor of claim 1,comprising an upper elastic member comprising an inner part coupled withan upper surface of the bobbin, an outer part disposed between the upperplate of the cover and the magnet, and a connection part connecting theinner part of the upper elastic member and the outer part of the upperelastic member.
 13. The voice coil motor of claim 1, wherein the secondpart of the terminal is disposed to be perpendicular to the first partof the terminal.
 14. A camera module, comprising: a circuit board; animage sensor; the voice coil motor of claim 1; and a lens coupled to thebobbin of the voice coil motor and spaced apart from the image sensor,wherein the terminal of the voice coil motor is electrically connectedwith the circuit board.
 15. A mobile phone, comprising the camera moduleof claim
 14. 16. A voice coil motor, comprising: a base; a coverdisposed on the base and comprising an upper plate and a lateral plateextending from the upper plate; a bobbin disposed in the cover; a coildisposed on the bobbin; a magnet disposed between the bobbin and thelateral plate of the cover; a lower elastic member comprising an innerpart coupled with the bobbin, an outer part coupled with the base, and aconnection part connecting the inner part and the outer part; and aterminal disposed on the base, wherein the lower elastic memberelectrically connects the coil and the terminal, wherein the terminalcomprises a first part disposed on an upper surface of the base, and asecond part bent from the first part, wherein at least a part of thesecond part of the terminal protrudes from a lower surface of the baseopposite to the upper surface of the base, wherein the first part of theterminal comprises a flat plate shape disposed to be parallel with theupper surface of the base, and wherein a conductive material is coupledwith the outer part of the lower elastic member and the first part ofthe terminal.
 17. The voice coil motor of claim 16, wherein the firstpart of the terminal is parallel with the outer part of the lowerelastic member.
 18. The voice coil motor of claim 16, wherein the outerpart of the lower elastic member comprises a hole formed at a positioncorresponding to the terminal.
 19. The voice coil motor of claim 18,wherein the conductive material is disposed on the hole of the outerpart of the lower elastic member.
 20. A voice coil motor, comprising: abase; a cover disposed on the base and comprising an upper plate and alateral plate extending from the upper plate; a bobbin disposed in thecover; a coil disposed on the bobbin; and a magnet disposed between thebobbin and the lateral plate of the cover.